Social Media Newsfeed: Happy Birthday, Facebook | Twitter Acquisition

Facebook Turns 9 (AllFacebook)
Facebook celebrated its ninth birthday Monday. The site that started in a Harvard University dorm room has now connected more than 1 billion users from all around the world. The Huffington Post An article about Facebook in the Harvard Crimson from February 2004 gives a few insights into just how far Facebook has come and how different it could have been. “At one point I thought about making the website so that you could upload a resume too, and for a fee companies could search for Harvard job applicants. But I don’t want to touch that,” Zuckerberg tells the Crimson. What if Facebook had been a glorified LinkedIn for Ivy Leaguers? Los Angeles Times Although Facebook is still the king of social networks, it’s far from perfect. So here are nine features we’d like to see added to big blue that could improve users’ experience. The Atlantic Wire Facebook has a retrospective of layouts from 2005 through 2009, which will quickly remind you just how the site went from ugly to, well, more ugly? Then in 2011 we got the Timeline, which made the site a little nicer to look at. And then came that big Graph Search bar this year (just take the tour already). BuzzFeed Meet the students who celebrated Facebook’s birth — and find out where they are now.

Report: Twitter Buys Social TV Analytics Company Bluefin Labs (CNET)
Twitter has reportedly acquired Bluefin Labs, which generates social TV analytics, in a deal which is said to be the social-networking giant’s biggest-ever. Business Insider Prior to Bluefin Labs, Twitter’s highest acquisition (as far as we can tell) was TweetDeck for $40 million in May 2011. Since Bluefin Labs has raised $20.5 million to date, we assume the price is between $50 and $100 million (or higher), a healthy return for its investors, Time Warner Investments, SoftBank Capital, Acadia Woods Partners, Bedrocket Media’s Brian Bedol, Jim Pallotta, Redpoint Ventures, Dan Gilbert, Lerer Ventures, Kepha Partners and the National Science Foundation. LostRemote If this is the case, Twitter is clearly making an even bigger bet to monetize around TV. Earlier this year, Twitter announced a deal with Nielsen — which had just acquired SocialGuide — to create a Twitter TV rating. The idea: to reinforce with TV advertisers that a Twitter media buy amplifies your TV buy.

How Skype is Helping Topple a Dictator in Syria (Mashable)
The toolbox of the average rebel fighting in Syria is full of things you have probably never touched: an AK-47, grenades, sniper rifle. But it also has something you might use every day: Microsoft Skype. Skype is the go-to social network for communication between rebels, anti-government activists, journalists and officials inside and outside of Syria.

Facebook is Said to Create Mobile Location-Tracking App (Bloomberg)
Facebook is developing a smartphone application that will track the location of users, two people with knowledge of the matter said, bolstering efforts to benefit from growing use of social media on mobile computers. The app, scheduled for release by mid-March, is designed to help users find nearby friends and would run even when the program isn’t open on a handset, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.

Beware Fake Accounts Promising to ‘Verify’ You on Twitter (AllTwitter)
What you should not do is retweet something in hopes it will magically verify your account. It won’t. The Verge shares that 22,000 users were recently fooled by just one fake account (@PrivateVerified) promising verification in exchange for retweets. And here are some names on additional fake accounts they uncovered (all are now suspended).

Facebook to Tell Users They Are Being Tracked (The New York Times/Bits Blog)
Facebook has agreed to be transparent about, well, the obvious: You are being tracked so advertisers can better aim at you, and you can opt out if you make the effort. The announcement came Monday as part of the company’s agreement with the Council of Better Business Bureau.

Fashion Retailer Accused of Stealing Instagram Photo (The Daily Dot)
An Instagram user claims that fashion label Mango is using one of his images on a shirt without his permission. Tuana Aziz, a commercial photographer from Sweden, shared a screengrab Monday of a shirt being sold by Mango.

John McCain Calls Iranian President a ‘Monkey’ on Twitter (ars technica)
U.S. John McCain used his Twitter feed Monday to call Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a “monkey.” With the U.S. government attempting diplomacy to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb, the former presidential nominee’s tweet was ill-timed at best.

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